Edwin H. Land in "The Long Walk" (1970; directed by Bill Warriner for Polaroid Corporation)

Shot for Polaroid's 1970 shareholders' meeting, this film shows founder and CEO Edwin Land giving a tour (by helicopter) of the company's offices and factories in Massachusetts. After landing at the new factory under construction in Norwood, Land walks through the empty building, discussing the company's history and how it has led to the forthcoming camera system later known as SX-70.
Watch for the segment, beginning around the 10:40 mark, in which Land describes his vision of the future of photography.

[@bonanosc]

Please take a moment to remember Bill Warriner, director of this film, who died early this morning, June 15, 2015. He was a witty, enthusiastic, and erudite man, and one I was very pleased to get to know.

[@Ron-nm6yr]

I've seen the documentary "Instant Dreams" and it seems that the exact chemical formula can't be replicated. A real good chemist like Robert Murray-Smith can probably replicate the polaroid formula. Just contact him and ask: kzbin.info

[@cshubs]

I learned last year that I'm related to Dr. Land! He's a cousin in my paternal grandfather's generation! I never met him, but he was at my dad's bar mitzvah in '56.

[@kdogtv]

From 12:24 on hes talking about today's age with cellphone cameras. Revolutionary visionary and way ahead of his time.

[@LaurenceVonThomas]

No. He's just talking about the SX-70, which he envisioned as a "pocket camera" because you can fold it (technically if you have a coat as big as mr. Land) and put in your pocket.

[@SwaypenYT]

He wasn't talking about cellphones...

[@cavegamer5989]

@@LaurenceVonThomas check out 13:00 - 13:55 and come back :)

[@LaurenceVonThomas]

@@cavegamer5989 11:57 - 12:34 is most definitely about the SX-70

[@robertknight4672]

@@LaurenceVonThomas my modern smartphoe and my vintage sx-70 camera on the only two cameras I have I can Focus really close to things about needing to put a special lens on.

[@patrickmont2295]

Chris- Thank you for making this film available. As a great fan of Dr. Land, I appreciate being able to view this very much!

[@MatthijsLangerman]

I bought a Polaroid SX-70 a few weeks ago. It is exactly what he said it would be. It's a wonderful camera that is in my coat all of the time, next to my wallet...

[@TBNTX]

By any definition, Mr. Land was a visionary and a genius,.

[@loveparade4824]

One of the greatest iinovators in the world.

[@_Sisyphus]

WOW! The vision!

[@peterhammond9207]

what a fascinating and brilliant man...I'm loving your book!

[@bonanosc]

Thanks so much! I am very pleased to have helped keep him in the public eye.

[@lolo-be7wr]

"A kind of photography that would become part of the human being, press a button, and have a picture," Edwin Land 1970

[@vincenzodionisio]

Also you're here thanks to "In an istant"? Hehe

[@videosuperhighway7655]

The SX-70 was highly advanced for its time.

[@hippiegirl58]

Thanks so much for sharing this. My Dad worked for Mr. Land in Cambridge.

[@bonanosc]

Thanks for saying so. What did he do? Was he at Osborn Street?

[@hippiegirl58]

Christopher Bonanos He worked at Polaroid in Cambridge. Honestly, i am not sure what exactly he did.

[@AeromaticXD]

what a fascinating character Dr. Land was!

[@BaldingRocker]

Thanks for sharing, Chris. Excellent vid.

[@scottsterling7659]

he predicted the future

[@adp4737]

Scott Sterling he made the future

[@bloccoaspirale1867]

Those are the best kind of predictions.

[@senseiokamisama]

Chris, I am half-way through your book now, I just gave myself a spoiler or two by watching your AtGoogle presentation and I just had to watch this too. Thank you so much for uploading it; I have a feeling your research uncovered more little treasures you could share.

[@ssalemi]

I worked in the Publicity and Communications Department at 549 Technology Square, writing for The Polaroid Newsletter, in the mid-to-late 70s. The Newsletter's photographer was the amiable and easy-going Boyd Norcross (recently deceased) (newsletter photos were not generally shot with Polaroids). One of our staff had to meet briefly with Land over one thing or another, and I remember Boyd telling that person to tell Land to, quote, "Drop Polavision." But we were mere peons...

[@Obladgolated]

People who invent the future don't always get it right. Edwin Land got it right for a long time. He also got a lot of classified things right, but took very little credit for those.

[@michael_177]

clicked on this video, saw your username, just realised you wrote the book i just ordered lol. i look forward to it!

[@xowhiplock]

"Dr Land's" vision was fulfilled, as just about everybody had at least on Polaroid camera in the family. If they had even a hint of digital coming along, I'm sure they would have been working on an SX-70 digital pack. I'm still not sure why nobody today has done this yet. Sure the SX-70 is bigger then a cell phone, but the pictures that could be produced by a large sensor would be worth the price... and if, just like mass production lowered the cost of the SX-70 so everyone could afford it...

[@TheDarkplace]

How has nobody ever considered this?!?! Runs to look at latest Arduino boards 😮😍

[@errole]

Fujifilm evo is that.

[@ntsecrets]

I worked in every one of those buildings in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Some buildings are still around, the 128 site is mostly gone except for the south half of the main building. Not sure what became of N1-2 and NB. The reservoir site is still around too, premium office space.

[@bonanosc]

@LoboMella Thanks! I didn't end up with all that much video--Land, as you can see in this, was peculiar on camera. But lots of interesting printed material turned up, you bet. The collections at Harvard Business School's Baker Library and the MIT Museum contain all sorts of unexpected and interesting stuff.

[@johnapperson7495]

Along with Henry Ford , this man was one of the smartest men the United State ever had in it grace.

[@RobertRoll]

Where was Dr Land's microphone? Was there a small Nagra recorder under the raincoat? Very early RF xmitter? It's been more than 50 years, so unless the sound recordist was very young, or the late Bill Warriner wrote about the shoot in detail, maybe we can only guess... but this was the first question that came to my mind watching all the long angles in this amazing film document.

[@lolo-be7wr]

Most likely a boom microphone with an extension for the walking scenes. Atleast that what I would do 😆 clearly his pacing was irratic /unscripted so that's what I'd assume. And was most likely over dubbed in the editing room for the wide angles.

[@bxlis]

13:00 he is talking about cellphone cameras wow

[@NumaticVacuum]

He was talking about the SX-70. We wouldn’t have today what we have, if it were not for Polaroid.

[@RubyTwilite]

Where is the Norwood he discusses?

[@bonanosc]

It's a suburb just to the southwest of Boston.

[@WillScarlet1991]

Is that Mr Rogers' long-lost brother ?

[@hrtlsbstrd]

He didn't envision the cellphone camera, please don't give the man too much credit. What he imagined was a paper and chemical process in a small package, and his failure to envision the possibility of electronic cameras eventually led to his retirement from the company when his quaint film and chemical video technology was trounced by electronic videotape. That's not to say he wasn't a brilliant engineer, he probably was, but he didn't have the vision to adapt to emerging technologies.

[@imovertheocean]

He was born in 1909, I'd say he did pretty darn well all things considered

[@richardbarrow2977]

Also provided major advancements in aerial photography most people dont know about

[@DeeSnow97]

Polaroid forced him out in 1979, they cut all ties in 1983 and Land spent his remaining years leading a lab and researching light. It was the then completely separate Polaroid Corporation that failed to foresee the digital era, not him.

[@NumaticVacuum]

He designed a camera that gave you a picture that developed in seconds, no waiting for rolls of film to be used up and then developed. As soon as you pressed the button, you already had the picture!! Film is light sensitive and needs to be exposed for a correct amount of time to create a good photo. The film then needs processing, it is not something you can easily do at home for the average consumer, it has to be developed in a dark room, as to not further expose the film, this needs to be done in total darkness until the development is complete, then of course printed. Edwins vision for the SX-70, hid all that time consuming processing and complications from the consumer and created a film that did all that for you. The light sensitive film that was exposed when a picture was taken, was then ejected from the camera through rollers, in doing so, spread what was called an opacifier, which contained the developing chemicals and a dark layer, the dark layer had to do two things, firstly, protect the newly ejected light sensitive negative, when it left the camera, into the harsh light environment, it had to be strong enough to completely block all light from the negative and create a dark room for each picture that was taken. Secondly this dark room needed to go away when the photo was developed, so it turned completely clear, after development was completed…. So that you could see the full detail and colours of the photograph. This was all physical chemistry and I don’t think you quite appreciate how ahead of its time and truly magical it is/was. Land was a genius. Do you think you could think of such radical inventions for 50 years from now? You can only base your ideas on what you already know, maybe going over the boundaries but you can only go as far as current technology will take you.